Proef Fabriek Veghel

Today, we went to De Proef Fabriek in Veghel. This is an old factory that used create feed for farm animals, and has been turned into a gourmet “mall,” with many stores, including a coffee roaster, and an art gallery. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, you should definitely go to visit it.

This clock above the entry was just stunning. This clock used to hang in the train station of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.This Exota soda is made according to the old recipe. This means it has more fizz than normal soda. So much so, that a special bottling process had to be put together, since the pressure is so high.An old car used for delivering Exota soda.While the old factory is transferred into a gourmet shopping center, there are still old relics, like this old wheel used to let oil flow through the machinery.This store has this great collection of homemade liquors. You can fill bottles from these hanging containers.An eight-pack of Exota flavors. Interesting story from the past: because the pressure is so high in the bottles, there were rumors of bottles spontaneously exploding. Enough rumors were going around that a Dutch TV show decided to put a bottle in the studio, and aim a camera at it, and broadcast it live. Hours went by, and the bottle wouldn’t explode. Then, all of a sudden, during prime-time the bottle exploded. This was the end of the brand. However, with new technology, they reviewed the “tape,” and realized someone had shot the bottle with a BB gun, to make it explode!An old fashioned scale. I remember our local grocer having one of these when I was growing up.Jumbo is a grocery chain in The Netherlands, and they have a massive store in De Proef Fabriek.